When the Comets host the Sky tonight at Toyota Center, it will be the first time in the history of the program — and the WNBA — that a college coach has competed against a former player.

But forget the player vs. player stuff. A definite pecking order remains.

"Oh, I'll be coaching her. I'll be coaching her, even here," Staley said, "just because I think these are good lessons. We won't get a whole lot of opportunity to be on the floor against one another. So, I'll be coaching her.

"But certainly at the end, I can't let one of my players win, because I'll hear it next year from her teammates, I'll hear it from her. I hope she plays well, but not enough to get the win."

Welcome to the league

Everything Dupree and the Sky experience this summer is new. Chicago is the most recent franchise admitted to the WNBA.

A native of Tampa, Fla., and former All-American at Temple, Dupree was the Sky's first draft pick — the sixth player taken in the first round on April 5.

Staley isn't surprised that Dupree is the leading scorer and second-leading rebounder for the Sky (1-3).

"She's special," Staley said. "She really is special. But I think it's really going to take (Sky) coach (Dave) Cowens a little bit (of time) to really figure out how special she is, because I think she's gifted offensively.

"Just watching her play the few games I've seen her (as a pro), I'm biased. I think their offense should run through her because she's poised. She's not going to be selfish, she's not going to force up shots. If she's doubled, she's going to kick it out."

Staley said she was aware of Dupree's talent level from the moment she first considered her for a Temple scholarship.

"She could probably play baseball, any sport, and make it look as though it's her natural sport," Staley said. "I saw that, her composure, the poise. A lot of people mistake that for not being aggressive. She's a stay-in-between-the-lines kid."

Dupree easily is the most decorated woman to play basketball at Temple.

In 2005, she was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Staley didn't hesitate to throw her into battle shortly after she arrived in Philadelphia.

"I threw it on her because I knew that in year 2, 3 and 4, we were going to run our stuff through her," Staley said.

Injured as freshman

"I don't think she responded well her freshman year, but I told her, 'You really don't have time to be a freshman. We're going to put the ball in your hands, and you pretty much have to do something with it.'

"Fortunately or unfortunately, she got hurt her last 12 games of the season. So she got a chance to watch.

"That 12-game watch helped her to become a better player, just seeing how effective she could be if she were out there on the floor."

Through the first four games in Chicago, Dupree has averaged 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

After this year's first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Hartford and coach Jennifer Rizzotti, a former Comets point guard, Staley offered her star player words of consolation.

Next level, please

"I pretty much said she's done all she can do for Temple. And she really had," Staley said. "Another year at Temple would not have done her any good. She needed to take her talent on to the WNBA and professional women's basketball.

"I told her her skills were needed at that level as well. I wished her well."

That was hardly the end of their conversations.

Staley said they talked often during the WNBA preseason, "just to prep her for what it entailed, because it's different."

Staley and Dupree will face off only one other time in the WNBA, when the Comets visit Chicago on July 14.

Staley, a three-time Olympic gold-medal winner, has announced this will be her last season of active competition in basketball.

"This is kind of special for our program," she said, "kind of special for me, because now that I'm retiring, I can live through her. We're leaving a part of me somewhere in the game."

william.stickney@chron.com

COMETS SUMMARY

Swoopes ailing

Sheryl Swoopes
was a no-show at practice Thursday after leaving Wednesday's 73-60 win over Indiana with 54.6 seconds to play because of an injury.

After the Comets' third straight victory, coach Van Chancellor said Swoopes had encountered a back problem that wasn't thought to be serious.

Swoopes spent Wednesday night and part of Thursday in Memorial Hermann Hospital where she was treated for back spasms that resulted from dehydration, Chancellor said.

Her availability for tonight's game with the Chicago Sky at Toyota Center is a game-time decision, Chancellor said.

In 1998, Swoopes' first full season in the WNBA, she collapsed in practice and had to be hospitalized.

It was determined by team doctors that an improper diet resulted in the perennial WNBA All-Star becoming dehydrated.

Phillips at practice

Tari Phillips
, who has missed the Comets' first four games due in large part to a bacterial infection in her knee, was on the practice court Thursday.

As the Comets went through an hour-plus workout on the main court at Toyota Center, Phillips spent the time on a stationary bicycle exercising the knee.

"I'm just taking it day-by-day," Phillips said. "The entire ordeal has been scary," she said. "I think whenever your body goes through a change, it's a little bit scary, you kind of raise a couple of eyebrows."

Phillips said she hasn't been told by Comets medical personnel how soon she'll be able to return to competition.

TV games added

Sunday's encounter with Minnesota and former University of Houston standout Chandi Jones will be televised by FSNH.

The game on July 2 against the WNBA-champion Sacramento Monarchs at Toyota Center also has been added to the package, bringing to eight the total number of games to be aired in the local market on FSNH.

All of the Comets' Sunday home games this year are scheduled to start at 5 p.m.